


Moon Siblings

by lestradead



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 00:44:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11196900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lestradead/pseuds/lestradead
Summary: The crew loses one of their own. Taako doesn't function the same way anymore.





	Moon Siblings

It took a while for everyone to recover from what was by far the biggest, heaviest loss they had suffered.

 

Lup had sacrificed her life many times during the expedition, and she always came back, strung together by the weaves of time in the ship, ready to greet everybody hello with a gummy smile on her face, ready to give warm embraces because she knew it was always hard for the crew during the anticipation of those who died to return. She knew the feeling of trepidation when the remaining, living members of that year huddled around the dock, biting their nails, waiting, waiting, waiting for the strings of the past to reform, to complete the crew again. She especially felt nervous when it was Taako who got left behind, but she was always knew that he would come back, and he always knew that she would, too.

 

Except this time, it didn’t happen.

 

They lost her on the fiftieth year. There must have been something wrong with the ship when they finally got The Hunger off their tails, after a particularly powerful, nearly irreparable hit to the boosters. Maybe it wasn’t the ship’s fault at all. All they knew was that Lup never came back.

 

Taako was affected the most. He was her brother, and she was his sister after all. Nearly a decade passed after her failure to return, but Taako never gave up. It wasn’t like Lup to just disappear like that. Maybe she was just hiding in the pipes, or under the metal floors, or other grandiose ideas he would conjure to bullshit himself because he just couldn’t fathom the idea of losing her.

 

 _“She’ll come back, don’t worry,”_ he would tell himself, he would tell everybody, but he couldn’t convince anyone with the hot air he kept pulling out of his ass. He knew he was just lying to himself, but the denial stage could always drive one to insanity.

 

This only went on for five years until Magnus snapped at him, tired of him saying “she’ll come back,” or “she’s just pulling a prank on us.” To experience the wrath of sweet, gentle Magnus firsthand was something Taako hoped to never go through again. He shut himself in his quarters that night, tired, depressed, but knowing that ultimately Magnus himself was hurt by the loss just as much as he was.

 

Eventually the day came when they all just gave up waiting. Over two decades had passed after Lup’s disappearance, and Taako was ready to drop the hopeful act and, after a little hesitation, agreed to holding a funeral for her. They might not have had her body, but Barry insisted that they might as well send her off properly. That’s what she would have wanted.

 

On the twenty-third year past, they landed on a quiet, tranquil planet, its ground covered mostly by soft moss and tall trees. The clearing that they had landed on made it seem like it was uninhabited, and after a couple hours of trudging the uphills and hacking through tree branches (much to Merle’s dismay), they confirmed that the planet was, in fact, untouched by any sentient beings. Lup would have loved this place, if she was here. She loved a lot of things.

 

On the fourth night, Taako decided to venture out by himself out into the lush rainforest of the planet, alone, with his robes wrapped tightly around himself to keep the cool, humid air from freezing him. It was mostly quiet, save for the occasional crack of a branch or the crunch of a piece of bark under his leather boot, and the whisper of wind as it passed through the land, across the trees, causing the cape of Taako’s robe to billow out behind him. The force was nearly enough to push him backwards. Lup would have made a quip about how he was so light, like a feather, and would stick a quill she stole from Lucretia into the ribbon that wrapped around the base of his wizard hat, but she couldn’t. She was gone.

 

Taako walked, gazing up at the three moons in the sky, thinking of Lup. She was all that occupied his mind anymore. He wanted to stop blaming himself, it wasn’t his fault, there was nothing he could have done to change the situation, and there was nothing he could do anymore to bring her back. He reminisced momentarily about his childhood, when she was his only companion, his only friend, she who walked next to him when they hopped from caravan to caravan, holding his hand through the struggle; she who defended him when he was bullied or assaulted or abused, the image of her strong shoulders and back branded into his mind like a mark on livestock.

 

Lup was all he had, and they took that away from him.

 

He had lost track of time. The stars were twinkling overhead, and the moons greeted him as the clouds parted. He started to cry.

 

 _“Whenever we’re not together,”_ he could hear Lup’s voice echo in his head. Moonlight streamed down and seemed to create a path of white that curved deeper into the forest. _“The moon will always be watching over the both of us, Taako.”_

 

Blinded by his tears and acting on instinct, Taako followed the path, walking, walking, getting brisker, until he started to run. He ran in the direction of wherever the path took him, stepping over branches and tree roots, running, his tears blurring his sight until all he could see was the light carving a path for him, and all he could hear was Lup’s voice telling him, _“if you ever feel lonely, just look up at the moon. I’ll be looking up, too. She’ll be watching over us.”_

 

He ran with a fervor of sadness and anger, and a gross amalgamation of every emotion he had ever felt, his chest tightening, throat constricting, choking until he nearly wailed.

 

The light ended shortly before a cul de sac, the trees surrounding the small circle where the moons illuminated the ground brightly. Taako couldn’t tell if the sand that decorated the earth was what made it so bright, nearly blinding. He wiped his eyes and stared for a few more moments before collapsing onto the ground, his head in his hands, bent double, and he began to cry freely, weeping for his lost sister. Tears flowed in a steady stream from his eyes, knuckles growing white as he nearly tore his hair out. His hat must have fell off when he was running, but that didn’t matter. Lup was gone. That was all he knew.

 

His throat was hoarse as he drove his fist into the ground, mad at the world, mad at The Hunger, mad at himself. He lifted his head to the sky and cursed whatever god out there existed for taking Lup away from him, the only saving grace in this ugly world, the only person he ever loved with all of his heart. He couldn’t even remember what her last words were.

 

It felt good to cry, but Taako couldn’t do much of anything when he finally stopped. How long had he been there, kneeling in front of the glowing cul de sac, crying his heart out? It was probably only a mere few minutes, but it felt like hours. Days. Years. His eyes were weary, muscles stiff, knuckles pale and bleeding from when he punched the ground. The light gave his skin a subtle glow, making the moist stains on his cheeks more prominent, his eyes still wet with uncried tears.

 

There was a shift in the cul de sac in front of him, and he snapped his head up to see what it was. There were no inhabitants on this planet, he remembered, and furrowed his brow when he saw a figure emerge from the sand. The light dimmed down slightly when its feet planted square on the ground, and Taako could finally stop squinting. A cape unfurled itself from the figure’s back, its red inside glowing menacingly bright with the sand underneath him. It was a man, a tall one, Taako saw, but that was the only inference he could make.

 

Even though his voice was hoarse, Taako managed to croak out a weak “hello,” to the figure, and then an even weaker “who are you?”

 

“Who I am is not important,” the man told him. “I am only here to deliver a last wish.”

 

And with that, from behind this figure’s cape stepped out another person, one who had long ears and shaggy blonde hair, bright eyes and a familiar face; there she stood, in all her glory, was Lup.


End file.
